Stephen Chidwick Triumphs in Unscheduled $200K Short Deck for $3.46M

Stephen Chidwick Scored The Second-Largest Cash Of His Career In The $200K Short Deck – PLPF (Post Reg)

The $200K Short Deck event wasn’t part of Triton Jeju’s initial schedule. The highest-priced Short Deck tournament planned was $100K. At the request of players — many of whom had come to Jeju from Asian countries with a deep passion for the game — the $200K buy-in event was added and drew 61 entries, including 29 re-entries.

Final Table Payouts – $200K Short Deck – PLPF (Post Reg)

#	Player	Country	Payout
1	Stephen Chidwick		$3,455,000
2	Kiat Lee		$2,465,000
3	Rene Van Krevelen		$1,591,000
4	Esti Wang		$1,234,000
5	Dan Dvoress		$971,000
6	Elton Tsang		$754,000

This marks Chidwick’s third Triton title, all in Short Deck:

• Jeju 2024 — $20K Short Deck ($265,000)
• Madrid 2022 — €100K Short Deck (€1,800,000)

Other Short Deck Triton Jeju Champions

• Triton co-founder Richard Yong won the $50K Short Deck for $705,000 — his third career Triton title.
• Live cash and tournament regular Elton Tsang captured the $100K Short Deck for $1,697,000, his second Triton win.

New Names Emerge as James Mendoza and Jun Obara Claim Titles

California-based pro and Philippines native James Mendoza earned $1,515,000 by winning the $25K WPT Global Slam, which drew 311 entries and became the fifth-largest Triton event by field size (excluding Triton One events).

It was Mendoza’s first Triton appearance. He had only one cash at Triton One — $19,800 for a min-cash in the $8K Triton One Main Event — before staying on for the $25K Slam and hitting his best career score.

From four-handed play on, the run-good was all his:

• 4th place knockout: Emilien Pitavia, KQo > AKo, 29 BB pot, queen on the river
• 3rd place knockout: Alex Foxen, K6o > AJo, 18 BB pot, board A-8-5-7-4
• Heads-up knockout: Xue Song, A8o > QQ, 16 BB pot, board 8-7-4-5-A

After the win Mendoza said, “Baby run-good is real.” Mendoza is going to be a father in the next couple of weeks!

«It’s just the best year so far.»

Final Table Payouts – $25K WPT Global Slam

#	Player	Country	Payout
1	James Mendoza		$1,515,000
2	Xue Song		$962,000
3	Alex Foxen		$721,600
4	Emilien Pitavy		$584,000
5	Viacheslav Goryachev		$460,000
6	Yan Jingyao		$350,000
7	Ho Bao Qiang		$260,000
8	Dai Ming		$190,000
9	Punnat Punsri		$155,000

Jun Obara Dominates $40K NLH Mystery Bounty

In perhaps the most overwhelming Mystery Bounty performance Triton has seen, Obara collected 17 of the 39 bounties from a 158-entry field — and knocked out every single opponent at the final table.

He earned $699K for first place plus at least $680K in envelopes. Based on the average bounty EV of $81K (minimum $40K), Obara’s total haul should be around $1.4M.

This was Obara’s first Triton trip. He warmed up at Triton One with seven events ($2K–$25K) and cashed twice:

• $63,400 — $5K Bounty Quattro NLH (2nd)
• $4,700 — $2K One Night NLHE (15th)

He then played the $25K WPT Global Slam and $30K NLHE with no cashes before striking gold in the $40K Mystery Bounty.

Jonathan Jaffe Ends a Brutal Run in $30K NLHE 8-Handed

Jaffe secured his second Triton title and $1,061,672 after a heads-up deal with Renji Mao, who received $882,328. They left $40K and the trophy to play for.

Final Table Payouts – $30K NLHE 8-Handed

#	Player	Country	Payout
1	Jonathan Jaffe		$1,061,672
2	Mao Renji		$882,328
3	Chi-Jen Chu		$551,000
4	Masashi Oya		$447,000
5	Clemen Deng		$353,000
6	Ramin Hajiyev		$268,000
7	Edward Pak		$196,000
8	Brian Kim		$144,000
9	Michael Soyza		$119,000

Jaffe’s first Triton win came at Monte Carlo 2023 in the $50K NLH Bounty for $860K.

His 2025 Triton stats before this event were rough (entries exclude re-entries):

“Kind of knowing that great players that I’m friendly with had crazy long dry spells helps you not feel so entitled that there’s something good coming your way,” Jaffe said. “You really don’t even control it.”

Triton One Streams Continue

All the action is streamed on Twitch and YouTube, as well as in the QQPK and Triton Poker Plus apps.

Photo credits: tritonpokerseries.com